Narrative ideation

The narrative is one of many ways to generate, develop and communicate ideas. That is, an approach whereby the narrative, or story telling, is the propelling agent of the idea, the agent here being the designer-ideator, from first thought to description or exposition of the idea through the means of words (written and spoken), freehand sketches, physical models or computations (digital media), or combinations thereof. Moreover, as the idea is a form of proposition, or argument, that is, although the idea may be "fully formed", it is not yet realised, and whether expressed verbally or visually, it sits within the narrative approach in either fiction or non-fiction mode, or, again, in mixed modes. Design ideation, then, becomes a process akin to that of narration, where the designer is not only the ideator - the creator of ideas, but a story teller too. A variation of ideation as narrative is interactive storytelling, that is, the designer interacts with clients/colleagues/users/consumers. In this mode, the designer is not necessarily the leading ideator, or protagonist propelling the story (idea) forward. Narrative ideation, then, becomes a shared creative and collaborative experience.

Computational ideation

Design ideation is integral to design thinking, a form of strategic and practical process for problem-solving. Computational thinking is part of this process too, that is, thinking computationally can help designers identify, organise and represent the problem in new and different ways through computer aided abstractions and pattern recognition. However, computational thinking, as a thought process, is sometimes criticised for being too externally guided or structured (programmatic and algorithmic thinking) leaving little or limited room for human "free form" creativity. But this seems a narrow view because the design field is part of ongoing rapid technolgical change and necessarily engaged in challenging complex problem situations, for example issues of sustainability and climate change, which require an understanding of underlying science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM skills). Indeed, design thinking already involves STEM skills, from architecture to fashion design. This suggests that introducing and applying computational thinking in the early stages of the design process expands rather than narrows the potential of the development of a creative solution which is authentic, valuable, and useful for a given situation and context. A prime example hereof is Gehry's  design for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in which new computer software helped materialise new architectural forms.